Millions of people have discovered the benefits of working from home using their computer and the Internet. They enjoy the freedom of being able to work the hours and days they choose and having more time to spend with their families as well as having enough money to enjoy life. These people are not restricted to fitting their personal life around set company hours. This is the kind of life you can enjoy as well if you are willing to put in the time and effort. This lesson discusses general home business concepts.

GET RICH QUICK SCHEMES

When you search the Internet for “work from home opportunities” you will come across many websites that will try to convince you to buy their “amazing formula” which is “guaranteed” to make you rich within a short time with very little effort. These websites use pictures of fancy looking homes with a swimming pool and a top of the range sports car to ignite the desire within us to own these luxuries. It is followed by a long-winded story of how the webmaster went from rags to riches and how you can too.

The cold harsh truth is that there is no genuine way to make millions overnight unless you know how to pull off some professional scam. But there are people looking for fast track wealth solutions in the hope of becoming rich quickly so they can pay off their mounting debts and buy everything they want. These people are targets for the scammers who set up these “get rich quick” websites who blind them with lies and false promises.

THE CORRECT MINDSET

Before you can become successful in anything you need to have the correct mindset. Your mindset is your general attitude to whatever you want to do. Most people who look for get rich quick schemes online hold the attitude that they want as much money as possible with as little effort as possible because they are lazy and impatience. This is a negative mindset and often results in these people piling up large debts buying every “magical money-making formula” that they can get their hands on.

Before you proceed with these lessons it is important that you know what is expected of you in order to succeed as an Internet Marketer. You need to accept that earning the big money online is going to take time and effort on your part and there is no guarantee that every effort you make is going to succeed for you. In your role as an Internet Marketer you will be performing regular tasks such as recruiting, supporting new customers and team members.

A home business should be treated as a real business, not some online work from home scheme where you get paid for stuffing envelopes or assembling toys. You are expected to get customers and you only get paid from any sales you personally get. You do not get a regular salary. You are working for yourself and therefore all responsibility is on you. You may be expected to put some money into your business and if so – then you must be prepared for the possibility of making a loss.

So in general you need to accept that it takes time to build a profitable home business which can take (on average) anything between six months and five years. You need to be patience and keep trying to build your business even if you are making very little or no profit. You must be willing to believe in yourself and keep a positive attitude as there will be times when you face disappointment and feel like giving it all up. Remind yourself why you are doing it and convince yourself that one day you will become successful.

BECOMING ORGANIZED

Running your home business can be so much easier if you take the time to organize everything. For example you may want to set up a new email address for business use and work out a budget that you can comfortably afford to invest in your new business. You may also consider the most suitable hours you can work that fit around your other commitments. Whatever you need to do it is best if you take the time to decide how you are going to do it. Make a daily planner and write down what you are going to do and set yourself goals on achieving those tasks. Here is an example list of things you will need.

Business Email Address: You will find yourself signing up for many services such as marketing tools and advertising resources. There are many services on the Internet that you can use to help you with the running of your business and you may not want emails from them mixed in with your personal emails from other sources. Therefore you should get yourself a separate email address from Gmail which is the best one for business use. Most companies only accept a Gmail address.

Domain and Autoresponder: These are the two most important tools you will need to set up your business online and the cost is quite reasonable. A domain allows you to create your own website to promote your product and can cost $6 to $10 per month. An autoresponder allows you to build a list of customer’s email addresses and email them at the click of the button. An autoresponder will cost you a monthly fee of around $20 and contains everything you need to build your list.

Create a Planner: You will find running your business so much easier if you take the time to write down what you plan to do with your business and set a daily, weekly and monthly task list. For example, you may decide to promote your business with the traffic exchanges on a daily basis and do some research on new products and advertising resources at weekends. You may write down what you are willing to spend on your business and stick to that budget so you don’t end up with huge credit card debts.

AFFILIATE MARKETING

In order to make money online you will need a product to sell or a service to offer. You may have access to a supplier of items that you can sell at a higher price or you may be able to offer your own creations such as jewelry or clothes. Information products can be created in the form of videos and books on a variety of subjects such as learning to play the guitar or how to bake cakes. If you don’t have a product then you can sell other people’s products and earn a commission from them. This is called “affiliate marketing” and it is the easiest way to start a home business.

You can earn a good income with affiliate marketing and there are many products you can sell just by looking at websites such as Clickbank where people list their products with their offer of commission from each sale that you make for them. Some companies have multiple products and offer a special website known as an “affiliate website” which you (as an affiliate) can use to promote their products. They give you a personal username so they know that the sale has come from you. Some companies even provide extra resources such as banner and text ads as well as training on how to promote them.

NETWORK MARKETING

A company can take you on as an affiliate and pay you a commission for each sale you make but you are limited to how many people you can reach. You will need to spend a lot of money on advertising to keep getting the sales and your business will take a long time to grow. But the good news is that you can build a team of affiliates under you and get paid bonuses from any sales they make. You may also get paid a percentage of any sales they make. Your team can recruit affiliates under them and build their own teams and you can earn from them. This concept is known as “network marketing”.

Network Marketing allows you to build a team of thousands of affiliates just like you who go out and makes sales for the company and earn their own commission. Considering the money you can earn from sponsoring bonuses and percentages of your team sales you can make thousands of dollars very easily, even if you don’t make many sales yourself. Companies do this to encourage you to bring them new affiliates in to sell their products so it’s a win-win situation for both of you.

These affiliates become part of your team and are known as your downline. They may buy products themselves and so you can earn commission from their purchases as well. For an example let us assume that your downline affiliate gained a sale of $20 from their customer. Their percentage could be $5 for them and $15 for the company. As that person is someone that you personally referred as an affiliate the company would offer you a percentage of their own $15. So for example the company’s commission could be $13, $5 for your team member and $2 for you as their sponsor.

When you recruit people into your downline you automatically become their Sponsor. As their sponsor your role is to help them get started and to train and advise them on their new business. As your new member they may have a few questions and would appreciate your help and guidance. You can build a team of affiliates and profit from their efforts. They can also do the same. And the good news for you is that the new affiliates are still part of your team, even if you didn’t recruit them. When your downline teams have built their own teams then it becomes a network. One big team working together.